Known flowmeters make use of a floating element inserted into a conduit through which fluid is flowing. The measurement device consists of a tapered sleeve and a floating element fitting therein, the fluid being required to pass therethrough vertically from the bottom to the top. The floating element remains in its bottom position if no flow of fluid takes place, but is lifted therefrom, if fluid passes through the tapered sleeve, the degree of lift depending on the flow rate of fluid streaming therethrough.
The degree of deviation of the floating element from a normal position is either readable directly on a scale or the like, or transformable electrically or magnetically into an analog value.
Flowmeters of this type suffer from the disadvantage that the measurement device can only be used vertically, i.e. the longitudinal axis of the tapered sleeve must assume a strictly vertical position, so that the floating element can rise and fall along that axis in a vertical direction.
Any deviation from the vertical causes the measurement to be erroneous; an inclined position of the floating element, for example, causes it to deviate from its center position and press against a wall of the tapered sleeve, while the fluid passes through an unduly large opening arising between the floating element and the opposite wall of the tapered sleeve.